Community groups Na Kia‘i Kai, Surfrider Foundation, and Pesticide Action Network — represented by Earthjustice — sued the state agency for each day discharging millions of gallons of waters contaminated with pesticides, sediment, and heavy metals from the drainage ditch system it operates on the Mānā Plain.

The ADC manages tens of thousands of acres of state-owned agricultural lands located primarily on Kauai and on Oahu. Their largest tenants are the chemical companies (Dupont, Dow, Syngenta/Hartung, etc) doing genetic research and growing thousands of acres of GMO corn on Kauai’s west side.These same tenants apply tons of Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs) on a regular basis to crops grown on the adjacent fields – and they have for decades refused to disclose the when, where and what details of their chemical usage.

It is important to note that in order to secure the permits as ordered by the courts, the ADC will now need to determine what pesticides, heavy metals, and other pollutants are contained within the waters being proposed for discharge.And they will have to monitor and report them as well.Translation: The chemical companies claim that their pesticides do not drift into adjacent soil, air and water will finally be refuted in detail – with research done by the state and with the results being public information.

The court findings are eyeopening and include statements such as:

“There is no question that ADC discharges polluted water into the near-shore waters of the Pacific Ocean off Kauai’s western coast on a daily basis via the Mānā Plain drainage ditch system, and that it does so without an NPDES permit. It is undisputed that the water discharged contains various pesticides and agricultural chemicals, byproducts of agricultural chemicals, and heavy metals, as well as sediment from the unlined canals through which it passes.”

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About garyhooser

This blog represents my thoughts as an individual person and does not represent the official position of any organization I may be affiliated with. I presently serve now as a volunteer President of the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action (H.A.P.A.) www.hapahi.org I am also currently the Vice-Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. In a past life, I was an elected member of the Kauai County Council, a Hawaii State Senator and Majority Leader and the Director of Environmental Quality Control for the State of Hawaii - in an even earlier incarnation I was an entrepreneur and small business owner. Yes, I am one of the luckiest guys on the planet. Please visit my web site AND sign up for my newsletter (unlike any email newsletter you have ever gotten, of that I am sure) - http://www.garyhooser.com/#four
“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We’re afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We will fall!”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.
- Christopher Logue (b.1926)

Mahalo to you Wyncia for the note and acknowledgment. Kauai and all Hawaii is a microcosm of the rest of the world. My hope is that our success and our experience here…can serve as an example for other places.